VENUS MAHER
DYING
TO LISTEN
As if repeating a mantra, they
sang in unison as they rehearsed:
“It’s alright, you can go/ Your
memories are safe with us/ It’s alright, you can go/ Your memories
are safe with us.”
“Words are good for many
things, but they don’t seem sufficient when it comes to death. The
feelings are just too deeply intense
and words are too inadequate,”
said Synakowski, a 55-year-old
former academic journal editor
who has always had a hobby of
singing, whether it’s to the car radio or in a community chorus. “But
HUFFINGTON
05.19.13
music … music can reach those
places where words alone can’t go.”
Death used to happen solely at
home or in a hospital, with company limited to family, close friends
and clergy. Solemn music would be
reserved, perhaps, for the funeral.
But as the options for the end of
life have grown to include hospice,
palliative care and other avenues
that recognize not only physical
but also emotional and spiritual
well-being, Synakowski and likeminded volunteers are offering another service to the dying: soothing
through a cappella song.
Each week, Synakowski and
between five and 10 people gather
around an imaginary bed to prac-
Singers
practice at
the Threshold
Choir national
conference in
Healdsburg,
Calif., in early
April.